The shipping industry consists primarily of three types of carriers, each offering services that satisfy different customer needs. There are small package carriers like Federal Express, United Parcel Service and others who pick up small packages, consolidate these packages into large loads, move them close to their destination point and then deliver the packages. At the opposite end of the shipping business are the large customers which fill entire trucks or trailer loads and are considered to be truck load shippers. The category in between the truck load shippers and the small package shippers are less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers. Similar to the UPS driver who collects and delivers many small packages during a business day, the less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier picks up freight from upwards of 20 different customers. This freight is typically destined to many different locations around the country. The freight is brought back to a terminal where the shipments are unloaded from the truck, consolidated with other freight moving in the same direction and then reloaded on delivery trucks. The freight is sorted and consolidated into truck loads at the terminal to minimize the empty space on the truck that will transport the freight from the local terminal to either a local delivery or a distribution terminal in another city or state. At the distribution terminal the truck will be unloaded and its freight restored and reconsolidated for delivery to customers in the local area around the distribution terminal or shipment to another distribution terminal.
Each individual shipment is governed by a separate contract called a “bill of lading.” Often, customers will have their own bill of lading form that they use for shipping. Thus, over the course of a day a truck driver may collect many different bill of lading forms, one for each shipment. Moreover, as the driver drops off shipments, the driver will provide and generate many delivery receipts. The driver deals with many other documents as well during the course of the day, including customs documents and the like.
As in any business, efficiency and speed are measuring sticks for customer service. As an internal matter, as with any other business, the faster payment is received, the better the cash flow. The speed and efficiency of these processes are what gives a trucking or other carrier a competitive edge. Typically, a truck driver will leave the truck terminal in the morning and return in the evening. When he returns he has a hand full of bill of lading forms and other documents which is submitted to the corporate office where it is processed by billing clerks using data entry skills. After the information from each bill of lading is entered, the shipping information is transmitted to the loading dock at the terminal so that the freight moving to common points can be consolidated and the delivery schedule planned.
The goal of proper load planning is to deliver the freight on time with the delivery truck leaving the terminal with a full load. Unfortunately, in some typical systems, both the truck used to pick up the freight and the truck used to deliver the freight are often sitting idle at the terminal while the data entry and load planning functions are being performed. Additionally, in these systems, because the freight typically comes in one truck at a time the loading dock may not know in advance of the trucks' arrival at the terminal or the contents and the destination of the freight picked up on a given day. Consequently, a delivery truck will often depart the terminal only partially loaded. Many of these partially loaded trucks could have been fully loaded had the load planner known about unscheduled freight that had been picked up and would soon arrive at the terminal. This movement of freight as partial also results in decreased efficiency, increased costs and reduced profits for the trucking company.
While some systems have the ability to scan and transmit documents, improvements are desired. For example, some systems require manual entry of the type of document and association of data therewith. Moreover, typical systems cannot assist the driver in making sure all data is provided or that documents are scanned correctly. Moreover, some systems can scan and transmit images but association of data corresponding to the images requires significant manual effort. Moreover, such systems do not typically track or provide information regarding the trailer or dolly assets being transported. Accordingly, improvements in the efficiency and capability of document transmission and processing systems for freight carriers are desired.